Hunt for £1million ring left in hotel bathroom

POLICE are searching for a £1million diamond and emerald ring after its owner left it in a hotel bathroom in Hong Kong.

It is feared the ring may have ended up in one of the former colony’s many pawn shops. []

Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele, a Swiss jeweller, says she took the ring off to wash her hands at the Four Seasons Hotel’s Harbour View ballroom and then forgot to replace it.

Despite running back only seven minutes later when she had realised her mistake, she said it had disappeared.

The socialite’s ring was made by the family firm Chopard, which she runs with her brother.

It boasts a 16.83 carat emerald nestled between two diamonds of 1.15 and 1.29 carats, with another 674 small diamonds encrusting the band. A £40,000 reward has been offered for the safe return of the piece.

A police spokesman said: “A female foreigner left an emerald ring valued at HK$12million in the washroom on the fourth floor of the Four Seasons Hotel in Hong Kong.

“She took off the ring to wash her hands and forgot about it when she left the washroom. When she remembered the ring a few minutes later she went back but failed to find it.”

The socialite’s ring was made by the family firm Chopard, which she runs with her brother.

Gruosi-Scheufele, 49, was in Hong Kong to open a new Chopard store last September when the apparent theft took place, and it is feared the ring may have ended up in one of the former colony’s many pawn shops.